Presumably the ancestor of "soda jerk". ---------- _The Times_ (Trenton NJ), 4 Sep. 1889: p. 3(?), col. 2: <<NOBODY KNOWS / When the girls will stop flirting. / .... / When the streets will be kept clean. / When the local fishermen will stop lying. / .... / When soda jerkers will give a full gla[ss] for a nickel. / ....>> ---------- -- Doug Wilson